Thursday, March 1, 2007

HOMEMADE MUSHROOM BROTH, AND SOME THINGS I'VE BEEN WORKING ON

I use mushroom broth in some of my seitan recipes, and in recipes that call for a "meaty" broth.

One tasty broth, Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon Mushroom Base contains "cultured whey"! (You have to also look out for beef fat in some “vegetarian" bouillons.)

But here are some that ARE vegan:

My favorite is Star brand, which is an Italian brand, but it's hard to find in my neck of he woods. On the (brown) box it says “Porcini Dado”, which means “porcini bouillon”. Here is a US online source. Star is distributed in the USA by Ranieri Corp., 281 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Star products are distributed by Italpasta Ltd. In Canada. I can find the mushroom cubes in some Italian markets in Vancouver.

Here is a porcini mushroom powder(from Pistol River, OR), available online at a very reasonable price. Amazon also carries various brands. You can make a rich-tasting broth using 1 cup of your favorite vegetarian bouillon with 1/2 Tbs. of the porcini powder mixed in!

Not recommended:Harvest Sun is a US organic brand, but I think it's far too salty and lacking mushroom flavor.

I tried Pacific Foods Organic Mushroom Broth in a carton and I wasn't impressed. It had a strong onion odor as soon as I opened the carton, and more onion flavor than mushroom.

It's too bad the organic mushroom broths I've tried do not make the grade in the kitchen!

Saute the onions and garlic in the Earth Balance or oil over medium-high heat in a large nonstick pot until they start to brown. Add the broth and dried mushrooms and bring to a boil. Turn down, cover and simmer 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and let the stock cool. Strain off the solids.

The mushrooms after cooking and straining

You can freeze the mushrooms to use in other dishes. The broth can be frozen in 2 cup or 1 cup freezer containers, or in ice cube trays (2 tbs. per cube). the cubes can then be stored in zipper-lock bags.

The three photos above are of my easy, vegan version of Vietnamese Bahn Xeo, also known as "Sizzling Crepes", "Sound Crepes", "Saigon Crepes", and "Happy Pancakes". UPDATE: the recipe is in my new book, "World Vegan Feast". I made my pancakes with split mung beans and brown rice flour for a heartier, healthier version than the usual white rice flour ones.

18 comments:

Bryanna, your quest for mushroom bouillon really hit home with me. Recently I bought a large, expensive can of Vegetarian Seasoning from an Asian market. It says you can use it as a replacement for MSG, and the outside of the can lists the ingredients as mushroom powder, salt, mushroom extract, carrot extract, celery extract, and amino acid. I thought, Great--mostly mushrooms. I used it in a soup and it was delicious. Later, I noticed that the interior bag (it was a bag inside a can) also had some info. It was labeled "granulated mushroom bouillon" and there was an all-new ingredient list, which started with MSG, followed by salt, sugar, and corn starch. Mushrooms were way down the list. It still looks vegetarian, but I don't appreciate the deception. The English brand name is SuperQ, though most of the writing is in Vietnamese. Just a warning, in case anyone else stumbles upon this bouillon.

I have some of the Harvest vegetarian mushroom broth on my shelf right now and I really like it. Here in Houston we have some huge Asian markets that stock it. I use it in my rice cooker with onions and black pepper for brown-and Himalayan-red-rice pilaf with barley.

As far as beefy broths are concerned, I use mushroom soy sauce a lot. It's perfect in chili to give it that dark-browned flavor that veggie chilis miss so much. I've even used it as the base for vegetarian French onion soup, with decent results (meat eaters saying "this is good"). It only takes a little bit.

Thanks for the mushroom broth recipe. I have tried Pacific brand and didn't like it at all. Your recipe looks hearty and rich. I will be making it soon.Your other recipes look beautiful and delicious. Can't wait to get a copy of your new book! Hurry with the seitan book too. All the best,Kristina

Hmmm-- that's an interesting recipe! You could try using 3/4 tsp agar POWDER instead of the gelatin (you need less agar than animal gelatin) and use light miso instead of the fish sauce to make it vegan. Let me know how it turns out! Another option instead of the porcini cubes might be (per cup of hot water), 1 tsp. vegan broth powder or paste (or 2 tsp. homemade broth powder) plus a pinch or two of porcini powder.

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